Rapture

This is probably the least original idea to write about today.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll just aspire to have the best, most interesting things to say about it.

Wouldn't it be great if it was today?  Empty, grieving feeling over.  Enduring to the end, check! 

I'm so curious as to what this preacher said and how he brought so many to a point where they believed he knew what he was talking about,  especially since he had apparently done this once before in 1994 or something and was wrong.  People are so anxious to believe in something.  Things are easier when you have a deadline too.  Like, "I have 4 months  to perfect my life.  No more lying, taking advantage, swearing etc."  I can see how that would be a great motivator.  Short bursts of righteousness are so much easier to control.  When you look ahead to being good for the next 40 years however, it seems a little daunting.

I looked this morning for the word rapture in the scriptures.  Couldn't find it.  In fact, the only time I think I've ever heard the word is in an Anita Baker love song from the 80's.  Puzzled,  I pulled down The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible which indexes all the different translations (yes, we have that!) and the word rapture isn't in a single translation.  The Internet says it comes from the 17th verse in 1Thess, chapter 4:  "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."  I wonder who connected that phrase with the word rapture.  Maybe I should have read more than just Wikapedia.

There are a couple scriptures that I'm thinking of on a day like today.  Amos 3:7  "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."  The ordained prophet of God on the earth has told us that we should ever be prepared for the "great and dreadful" day both temporally and spiritually.  We've heard that for many many years.  Matthew 25: 13  "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."  We have many signs of the last and final days, but we have been told multiple times that the actual timing of Christ's coming will be a surprise. 

There are many things we can know.  I'm a firm believer that the mysteries can be given to us if we weary the Lord with our asking like the widow in Luke 18. The date and time when Jesus Christ is due back to wrap things up is not one of those things.  We just need to live like it's tomorrow and always have the date saved by how we act.  He can save us from our sins, but not in our sins.  That's why his doctrine is repentance.  Maybe these billboards and all this hype did do some good.  Maybe they pushed people toward repentance.  That would certainly be a good thing.

It's no wonder many think  the world is ending.  Just read Matthew 24 when the disciples asked, "saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?  And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I  am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars;  see that ye be not troubled;  for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows..."  And in 2 Timothy chapter 3 "This know also, that in the last days  perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents (we've discussed fulfilling this one in particular in family home evening a few times.), unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of  pleasures more than lovers of God;..."  The real signs are here.

I hate that the world is scoffing at the believers of today's "prophecy".  I hope this post doesn't sound like scoffing.  I think the attitude of the media toward all this is foreshadowing.  I think it means more and more scoffing at any type of believer in the future.

I would like it to be today.  The truth is, I'm not ready.  Can you ever feel ready?   Is it humanly possible to believe that you are good enough to be with God or his Son?  Maybe I would be more confident if I was speaking with Him every day or reading His words.  Maybe the billboards are for me--to motivate me to get ready and do the things that I should--the very things that are the hardest and cause me the most pain right now.  Yep, that must be it.